


The Space Between

by doing_her_best



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doing_her_best/pseuds/doing_her_best
Summary: On a flight to NYC, Emma contemplates her future while sitting next to Alyssa.Might become a series, we'll see!





	The Space Between

The space between them was infinite. 

Emma looked down to the arm rest on her right, where Alyssa’s arm was. Emma had never been on a plane before, and after the first thirty minutes of excitement, she was starting to feel cramped and anxious. She felt too big for her seat, and she was starting to fidget in her space between the window and her girlfriend. Alyssa was fast asleep next to her, and Emma envied how easily she was able to put in her headphones and drift off. There was nothing Emma wanted more than to curl up next to her and snuggle, but she dare not get even an inch closer to her girlfriend. Not with Mrs. Greene sitting in the next seat over. She began to stare out the window again, watching the endless blanket of white clouds. 

Things had gotten marginally better between Alyssa and her mother over the summer, but not by much. Emma still wasn’t allowed in Alyssa’s room with the door closed, or to spend the night with her. They couldn’t hold hands, and forget about kissing. The breakthrough almost came two weeks ago when Mrs. Greene invited her over for Sunday dinner after church. Emma was on her best behavior; she brought flowers and even wore a dress. But she couldn’t eat the salad because there was walnuts in it and she’s allergic, and that set off a ripple effect of fighting. Within a half hour it got so bad that Emma had to see herself out after Alyssa slammed her bedroom door so fiercely that the house shook. 

They wouldn’t be on this plane at all if Barry hadn’t insisted. Up until two months ago, she had everything planned out. She had gotten into Wellesley College months ago and had been saving up for a one-way Greyhound ticket ever since. But when she got off the waitlist at Barnard and they offered her a full scholarship, she knew she couldn’t pass up the chance to be in New York City, a subway ride away from her Broadway friends….. and across the street from Alyssa at Columbia. 

Emma knew she was lucky to be going somewhere where she wouldn’t be completely alone. Barry paid for her flight ticket, for all of their flight tickets because he insisted that she couldn’t ride the bus with the “criminals and degenerates”; he and Angie were picking them up at the airport and treating them to see Dee Dee’s new show before they spent the night at her apartment. Tomorrow, Barry and Angie promised they would help her move in to her dorm, carry her suitcases and hang up her posters. They all insisted that if she ever needed anything, a shoulder to cry on or tickets to Hamilton, that she could always call them. 

Despite all of that, she was scared. She was scared of starting over, where she didn’t know if people would accept who she was. She wished her grandma could come with her, but she was too old to travel. She wished she had said goodbye to her parents, but she didn’t know how to ask. Most of all she wished that she could lean her head on Alyssa’s shoulder and touch the only person who made her feel safe anymore.  
Soon, Emma knew, she wouldn’t have to worry about Mrs. Greene’s critical eye. She and Alyssa could be together in the safety of a closed dorm room. Emma knew that she should be excited and relieved, but she was trapped by cold, paralyzing fear. She had gotten so good at surviving in Indiana. Her whole day was spent trying to find ways to persevere through the torment, the bullying, but the shame of being different. But Emma knew that in New York, tons of people were gay. She wouldn’t have to fight so hard to keep surviving. 

So maybe she could just try living.  
And that terrified her.

Emma averted her eyes from the window she had been staring out of and looked at Alyssa’s hand and. Her muscles were slack, her fingers dangling over the front of the arm rest. Emma yearned to feel her own fingers intertwined with Alyssa’s, to feel the faint pulse of Alyssa’s heart in her palm. Emma caught sight at her watch and internally groaned; there was still an hour left in the flight. She squirmed again in her seat, trying to relieve some of the tension in her neck. 

“Do you need to get out, Emma?” Mrs. Greene asked, peering over her magazine. 

“Oh- uh, no, I’m fine. Just antsy.”

Mrs. Greene clicked her tongue. “Well, I’m going to step to the restroom. I’ll be right back.” 

Emma watched her as she shuffled away to the back of the plane. She counted to ten, and then she made a decision.

Before she could stop herself, she slid her hand underneath Alyssa’s and intertwined their fingers before slouching against Alyssa’s shoulder. 

Alyssa stirred from her nap. “Hmm?” she mumbled with her eyes closed.

“I love you,” Emma whispered as she closed her eyes. If she kept her eyes closed, they she wouldn’t be able to see anyone’s disapproval. 

“Hmm. You too, babe,” Alyssa said before yawning and drifting back to sleep. 

Snuggled up against Alyssa, Emma was asleep in seconds.


End file.
